'22 - '23 News
Once Upon a Herricks Idol (4/20/23)
Once upon a time…
Herricks Tri-M Chapter 1975 welcomed the school community and beyond to their annual singing competition, Herricks Idol, Season 19, in the newly constructed and decorated auditorium, where 10 talented singers showcased their vocal abilities in front of their peers and three distinguished judges, including Herricks high school band director Mr. Scott Stickley, cat-approved theater enthusiast and social studies teacher Mr. Andrew Muller, and Herricks orchestra and theater alum Ms. Gomes! A huge congratulations to the winners, Lauren Dang (10) and Eli Jacobs (9), as well as to all of the other contestants: Daniel Lau (12), Alexis George (12), Logan Rein (12), Harsha Reddy (12), June Liu (11), Sam Coker (11), Kloie Liao (10), and Jacob Cheung (9). Emcees Sarah Huh (12) and Tanush Soni (12) prepared hilarious skits introducing the contestants and certainly brought life to the show of course. Thank you to the Herricks Tri-M board, Megan Cheng (12), Liam Tan (12), Patrick Leu (12), Kaitlin Abraham (12), Jaimee Huang (12), Meredith Daly (11), Fiona Kuo (11), and Preston Chan (11) for organizing rehearsals and ensuring the whole event ran smoothly. Without the hard work from these contestants, the emcees, the Tri-M board, and the diligent Tri-M members, Herricks Idol Season 19 would not be as magical as it was.
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by--
Herricks Tri-M Chapter 1975 welcomed the school community and beyond to their annual singing competition, Herricks Idol, Season 19, in the newly constructed and decorated auditorium, where 10 talented singers showcased their vocal abilities in front of their peers and three distinguished judges, including Herricks high school band director Mr. Scott Stickley, cat-approved theater enthusiast and social studies teacher Mr. Andrew Muller, and Herricks orchestra and theater alum Ms. Gomes! A huge congratulations to the winners, Lauren Dang (10) and Eli Jacobs (9), as well as to all of the other contestants: Daniel Lau (12), Alexis George (12), Logan Rein (12), Harsha Reddy (12), June Liu (11), Sam Coker (11), Kloie Liao (10), and Jacob Cheung (9). Emcees Sarah Huh (12) and Tanush Soni (12) prepared hilarious skits introducing the contestants and certainly brought life to the show of course. Thank you to the Herricks Tri-M board, Megan Cheng (12), Liam Tan (12), Patrick Leu (12), Kaitlin Abraham (12), Jaimee Huang (12), Meredith Daly (11), Fiona Kuo (11), and Preston Chan (11) for organizing rehearsals and ensuring the whole event ran smoothly. Without the hard work from these contestants, the emcees, the Tri-M board, and the diligent Tri-M members, Herricks Idol Season 19 would not be as magical as it was.
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by--
NYSSMA… in the Midst of BATTLE! (3/31/23-4/1/23)
Another year, another nerve-wracking year of NYSSMA for musicians around the district! Our empathetic Tri-M members helped ease tensions in the NYSSMA air by checking in students into their adjudication room and providing words of encouragement, all while preparing for their own NYSSMA adjudications! A special thank you to the members that helped at NYSSMA during Battle of the Classes! It was certainly hectic and we commend you for your dedication to Tri-M. Congratulations to all NYSSMA participants and remember we are proud of you no matter your score!!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Herricks (3/24/23-3/26/23)
This year’s musical features an intense spelling bee sing-off from several talented “kids” aiming to win the county bee in our newly renovated auditorium! The amazing actors in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee welcomed an audience across the district to our auditorium featuring stunning new lights and stage! We are excited to host even more events and performances in the auditorium and this year’s musical is a great precursor! Though it was certainly “not all serious,” community members enjoyed the passionate voices of these hard-working artists. Congratulations to all the performers and a huge thank you to our Tri-M volunteers for serving refreshments at intermission!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Herricks Chamber Orchestra at ASTA '23 (3/16/23-3/18/23)
To kick off Music in Our School's Month, our very own Herricks High School Chamber Orchestra competed at the 2023 National Orchestra Competition by ASTA and won second place in the high school division! The competition was certainly high this year with orchestras competing from around the nation— considering the first prize winner is a PERFORMING ARTS school, Herricks is honored to be placed in such recognition with our mere 40 (more like 30…) minutes a day of practice! Our orchestral musicians worked hard to prepare the challenging repertoire conductor Mrs. Birke set for them but enjoyed the rest of their time in Sunny Orlando at Universal Studios as a special treat and the luxurious Hyatt Regency Hotel. Congratulations again to our amazing Chamber Orchestra!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Mrs. Catherine Birke
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Mrs. Catherine Birke
Herricks Strings at LISFA (2/4/23)
Twenty-seven Herricks High School musicians recently attended the Long Island String Festival Association's (LISFA) Secondary Festival at Uniondale High School. Students were selected for this prestigious festival based on their NYSSMA Solo Evaluation scores from the previous year and teacher recommendations. Congratulations to all our amazing string players for their hard work at the long rehearsals this weekend an on a wonderful performance!
Article by Herricks Pride Website, Fiona Kuo, and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Mrs. Catherine Birke
Article by Herricks Pride Website, Fiona Kuo, and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Mrs. Catherine Birke
Herricks Musicians Take On All County (1/9/23-1/13/23)
Our talented Herricks Musicians took on All County by storm in Divisions IV and V this year! We are proud of the commitment our musicians have toward music and we hope everyone had a great experience after not attending All County since the pandemic! We hope it was an enlightening experience for our musicians to meet new friends and share their love for music. Though the program was truly challenging and rehearsals were difficult to manage along with the onset of schoolwork and midterms the following week, but our musicians pushed through at the top of the pack. Notable showings include amazing solos from Franciscus Chang on the english horn and our very own Tri-M President, Megan Cheng, on the flute! Congratulations to all All County participants and we hope you enjoyed this festival!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures --
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures --
All County Division I (west) Volunteering (1/4/23-1/7/23)
All County is BACK in session and Herricks is proud to host the Division 1 West All County rehearsals at Herricks Middle School! Working with the junior Tri-M chapter, our volunteers helped set up rehearsal spaces for these young, aspiring musicians excited for their first opportunity to play with kids from all over the county! Volunteers kindly escorted the nervous kids to their rehearsal spaces and raised their morale as they underwent the nerve-wracking experience of seating auditions. We also helped serve food during dinner time and breakfast, cleaned tables, and more! Tri-M is here to serve the future generation of great musicians and we hope these kids enjoyed their first All County experience and continue their passion for music as they rise up in Divisions!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures --
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures --
Holly Jolly Holiday Coffeehouse (12/22/22)
Right before we went off for winter break, Tri-M managed to squeeze in yet another coffeehouse for our Herricks High School Community! We heard even more amazing music to kick off the holiday season and enjoyed a variety of baked goods brought by our generous members– see above for some coffeehouse highlights! As you can see, the audience was packed! Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to our coffeehouse— see you at our spring coffeehouse!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Fiona Kuo
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Fiona Kuo
Herricks at All State '22 (12/1/22-12/4/22)
Herricks musicians attended the All-State conference in Rochester where they played various challenging pieces with musicians from all over New York state! We are proud to have over 5 students representing Herricks at the festival and over 15 students accepted as alternates! These musicians worked hard to prepare their solos during NYSSMA adjudications the past spring and their persistence paid off! Congratulations to all our amazing All-State Musicians! Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
It’s a Wonderful Life, The Drama! (11/18/22-11/19/22)
Herricks High School put on the classic play, “It’s A Wonderful Life” led by director Laura Latham at the Herricks Community Center. Through amusing commentary from our enthusiastic actors, community members enjoyed a comical show. It truly is a wonderful life at Herricks when performances such as this are presented to the community after long hours behind the scenes. We hope to see everyone at our spring musical back in our (newly renovated) auditorium!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Fiona Kuo
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Fiona Kuo
Balanced Minds Conference (11/8/22)
Our Herricks Tri-M chapter was invited once again to volunteer for the Balanced Minds Conference Tuesday, November 8th, 2022, at Woodland Middle School! Balanced Minds is a conference for music teachers across the county in which teachers can attend workshops to further their teaching skills for their students– our dedicated volunteers helped organize music for the orchestra and band new music reading, which allowed teachers to gain exposure to new music they can play with their students and greeted teachers to this exciting event with their name tags and special folders. Some of our volunteers even joined in on the play-throughs while meeting their former teachers! All in all, our Tri-M members contributed greatly to the success of this conference and were able to gain awareness of the musical community through this volunteer opportunity. A huge thanks to Balanced Minds for inviting us!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Fiona Kuo
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Fiona Kuo
Fall Into Our Autumn Coffeehouse (10/20/22)
After years of coffeehouse-less school years due to the pandemic, we finally hosted our first Autumn Coffeehouse October 20th in the cafeteria! We enjoyed a variety of baked goods graciously provided by our Tri-M members as well as amazing live performances from our talented musicians! Everyone performed so well despite the lack of microphones and chatter of baked-good (and of course music) enthusiasts! Thank you to everyone who contributed and to everyone who stopped by! We hope to see everyone at our next coffeehouse!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Fiona Kuo
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Fiona Kuo
It’s a Wonderful Life, The Drama! (11/18/22-11/19/22)
Herricks High School put on the classic play, “It’s A Wonderful Life” led by director Laura Latham at the Herricks Community Center. Through amusing commentary from our enthusiastic actors, community members enjoyed a comical show. It truly is a wonderful life at Herricks when performances such as this are presented to the community after long hours behind the scenes. We hope to see everyone at our spring musical back in our (newly renovated) auditorium!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Fiona Kuo
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Pictures by Fiona Kuo
Back to School Night (9/15/22)
We’re back at Back to School Night! Our members performed around the hallways during back-to-school night on September 15th. Parents and teachers were thrilled to see musicians performing various tunes throughout the school, livening up the chilly night and bringing back school spirit! When we say “throughout,” we mean we had musicians everywhere– near the stairs, in the gym hall (featuring our very own President, Megan Cheng, conducting!), and near the senior lounge! Here is a quick look at some of our musicians that night! We hope everyone enjoyed performing and listening to all the performances; see everyone next time for another fun night of music!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Photos by Jaimee Huang and Fiona Kuo
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Photos by Jaimee Huang and Fiona Kuo
Herricks Tri-M Named State Chapter of the Year!
The Herricks High School Tri-M Chapter is honored to be named Tri-M chapter of the year. Through many enlightening events for musicians and community members alike, we bring the wonders of music to not only students at the high school but throughout the whole Long Island Community. We host school events such as our periodic coffeehouses, allowing students to buy baked goods kindly donated by our dedicated members and immerse themselves in special musical performances by our talented members, and Herricks Idol, a popular event Herricks High School students look forward to each year— the whole high school community is able to enjoy a fun night of captivating performances by our talented singers and vote for their favorite contestant! In addition to events for our students, we also host programs such as the Herricks Summer Music program for aspiring young musicians in our district. Tri-M members have an amazing time working with younger students to inspire the next generation of Herricks musicians that will carry on our musical legacy. These young musicians learn music in more depth than they can at school with the help of passionate volunteers and enjoy music in a new light through this program! As a prominent member of the musical community on Long Island, we work with other Tri-M Chapters and host events for musicians around the county such as NYSSMA. Our members greet nervous NYSSMA test-takers with warm smiles and words of encouragement while assisting the adjuncts who listen to musicians for hours on end. We ensure all our adjudicators and students have the best experience possible by providing time in between tests, practice spaces, and more. Being named Tri-M Chapter of the Year is, again, a huge honor that will help us gain support for the musical community. With this recognition, we can attain funds to finance events for our talented musicians and support them in their endeavors. We can provide more service and performance opportunities for our members, as well as more events for the community to enjoy. We hope that we can further our legacy and give back to the musical community in the years to come.
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Tri-M Initiate Party (8/27/22)
We were so excited to welcome all the new initiates this year at our Tri-M Initiate Party at Christopher Morley Park on Sunday, August 28th, 2022! Our members and initiates enjoyed a fun day of icebreakers, scavenger hunts, and treats provided by our dedicated board. Starting out the rather hot day with some pizza and drinks, members got to socialize and reconnect with classmates. We then moved on to some icebreaker activities, which included the popular volleyball question game and a scavenger hunt to introduce the board! Ending with a quick game of red light green light, members then cooled down and enjoyed some snacks, including freshly baked brownies from our very own Co-President Megan Cheng! We hope everyone enjoyed our party! We can’t wait to see everyone at future meetings and we look forward to all the fun events ahead of us!
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Picture by Catherine Su
Article by Fiona Kuo and Meredith Daly
Picture by Catherine Su
Herricks Summer Music Camp (July 2022)
The Herricks Summer Music Camp, run by Music and Arts director and Tri-M supervisor, Anissa Arnold, and the Herricks Tri-M Chapter, was a daily 3-hour summer camp for elementary and middle school with a bright future in music. Students indulged in choral classes, ukulele classes, theater classes, and various opportunities to immerse themselves in their instrument in orchestra and chamber music groups! With the help of our high school volunteers, we inspired the next generation of talented musicians and potential Tri-M members by bringing music into a new, fun light! You can find some of our highlights from the summer at this website created by Mrs. Arnold, including some clips of performances by our talented students! Thank you to all our dedicated Tri-M members and counselors who pitched into help this summer, and of course, thank you to all the students participating in summer music! We hope to see everyone again next year!
Link to summer music info: https://sites.google.com/herricksk12.org/HSM2022
Article by Fiona Kuo
Pictures by Mrs. Arnold, Tina Zhao, and Fiona Kuo
Link to summer music info: https://sites.google.com/herricksk12.org/HSM2022
Article by Fiona Kuo
Pictures by Mrs. Arnold, Tina Zhao, and Fiona Kuo
Herricks Jazz Night (6/10/22)
On Friday, June 10th, Herricks High School hosted Jazz Night, a fun night filled with music from our talented Herricks jazz ensembles. The Middle School Jazz Band, High School Silver Band, High School Jazz Choir, High School Blue Band, and the Herricks Alumni Jazz Band enlightened us with catchy tunes that all audience members enjoyed. It was an amazing experience to have the alumni come and play at Herricks High School and bring their musical talents to the high school once more. Our new Tri-M board was excited to contribute to their first event and look forward to another great year of Tri-M next year. Congratulations to all the Herricks Jazz musicians on a great end-of-the-year performance and thank you to everyone who joined the fun!
Article by Meredith Daly and Fiona Kuo
Photos by Ethan Wang, Fiona Kuo, and Kaitlin Abraham
Article by Meredith Daly and Fiona Kuo
Photos by Ethan Wang, Fiona Kuo, and Kaitlin Abraham
Herricks Tri-M Induction (6/6/22)
Herricks Tri-M held their annual induction ceremony. New inductees were presented with certificates of achievement for being a member of Tri-M chapter 1975 and returning members were commended for their continued devotion to Tri-M. Herricks Tri-M was so thankful for the guest speakers. Their speeches showed students how music can affect your life now, and in the future, and we hope all Tri-M members can find the same haven in music in the future. Former Co-Presidents Keneil Soni and Kayla Sohn ended the ceremony with good wishes for the coming year. Additionally, Herricks Tri-M announced their new Executive Board for the 2022-23 school year. Congratulations to the new board and all the new inductees! We can’t wait for a new year of music-making and supporting the musical community here at Herricks!
Article by: Meredith Daly and Fiona Kuo
Article by: Meredith Daly and Fiona Kuo